Marvel: 2010-08-29 - Strumming with Jono
It's a comfortable night, not too hot, and Jonothon has decided to spend it out of doors. Not that the temperature affects him all that much. Wearing all black, and his leather jacket besides, the teen is sprawled in a lawn chair on the patio near the cafeteria. There are a few more here, but the young man is alone. In his arms is an acoustic guitar, which he plays. While he will never be one of the greats, Jono is none the less professional quality and plays very well. Pretty much enjoying the quite, waiting for the sun to go down, as he idly plays for his own amusement. Coming up from the lakeside, TJ's path brings her toward the mansion again. As shadows lengthen it seems her visible skin is almost..invisible, but a pair of glowing, yellow eyes makes it easier to pick her out. She slows at the sound of guitar strings being plucked then makes up her mind to see who's out there playing. Upon arriving at the porch she sees who it is. "Hey there, guy I haven't talked to yet. How's it going?" No tail this evening. He gently stills strings as he's spoken to, and Jonothon tilts his head. The other blue person! He'd wondered when you two would meet. In replying, the young man's lips don't move, but the reason should be obvious to one such as you. << Hullo. >> There's a British accent to that mental voice. << I'm Jonothon. Eh. Not bad. Yourself? >> His own eyes are dark brown, so once the shadows start taking him they will be lost in dark. Not that his pale skin blends, but then the teen really isn't trying to. << I'm afraid I don't know your name, but I remember Xavier posting about you. Enjoying your stay? >> Nocturne's head tilts at the mental way of speaking, rubbing one of her ears at first. "Talia, but you can call me TJ. Don't like speaking this way?" she wonders with a tilt of the head as she crouches comfortably on a nearby railing. Can't you just picture Kurt doing that? "Ah, he did. It's okay so far. Good, I think. I got to talk a little while with Kurt. That was nice." Don't like.. what? Oh! Jonothon looks briefly confused about that, then gets it and shrugs, << I can't talk audibly. Don't have lungs. >> There's a rueful look at that and he strums the guitar gently. << You two related? You two look nearly identical, which I suppose is bloody obvious. Sorry. >> A near smile for that. << To be honest all Xavier said was that you were staying here. I don't know anything about you. >> A bit apologetic that. "Wow," TJ answers, caught very off-guard by the admission about having no lungs. "I'd have never known," she adds, avoiding giving any thoughts on it. Might be a testament to some of what she's seen in her life so far. "And I guess you could say that. It's probably not much of a secret now but I ended up here from the future and he's my dad. I'm just not sure my future is this world's, but he took it well so far." Jonothon pauses and blinks at that admission. You're from where and he's what? The teen has to pause and wrap his brain around that. << Okay. >> Nope, this isn't easy to accept, << That's bloody weird. Stop pulling my leg, gel. >> Time travel? Please. << Long, lost evil twin would be more believable. >> Sorry, TJ. He just doesn't have the experience to accept this easily. Even if he's done a few incredible things the last few months. << ..Then again I just said I had no lungs. Christ. Sorry. >> Nocturne's expression turns cloudy for a spell. "I didn't expect everyone to believe it," she shrugs, a little defensiveness rising. "I wouldn't have either if it didn't happen to me, but you can ask the Professor if you want him to tell you I'm being honest," she adds, tone rather on the short side until he apologizes. Then she softens slightly. "It's fine. I almost said the same thing when you told me about the lungs." Arm draped over the guitar, Jonothon can't help it and smiles a little. << But I can prove I have no lungs. >> Doesn't believe you can prove the time traveling. << And that's kind of ironic in a way. I've met two real ghosts now, and he won't believe they are real, yet he accepts a time traveler? >> Not really angry, the teen rolls his eyes in amusement. Just doesn't get it. << This place gets bloody stranger by the day. >> Said with a bit of laughter. << Mind telling me what happened? Is this like the movies where you have a goal, or is it bad luck? Christ, I think it'd suck. >> No, he honestly isn't mocking you. Nocturne's arms rest across her thighs. "Yeah, I guess you can," she admits to the talk of proof, then she goes on to say, "I could tell you all kinds of things about where I'm from but it wouldn't matter because you could just think I was making it all up or I was crazy, or both. It's still true." This kind of reaction was bound to happen sooner or later. Good thing the Professor was around when she showed up. "I was with the X-Men there and we were in a big fight. Some kind of machine malfunctioned and I ended up here. /I/ can't even tell you how because I don't know. But if you can live without lungs I can be sent here from another reality." Then she admits, "Parts of it do suck. I don't know if I'll ever get back home." Something indistinct out on the grass becomes more interesting for the moment. Jonothon understands loss, and doesn't interrupt as you reply. Especially since he did ask about this. << Sorry you're stuck here. Like a movie set of home, I bet. Looks similar, but isn't the real thing. >> The teen shakes his head, his hair ruffling in unfelt breezes, << I can only imagine, but I'm sorry you're stuck. >> There's another pause before he asks, << How's Wagner taking it? >> Kurt he means. "Pretty much," TJ nods. "Most things are the same, but there's enough that's different that I don't know what's what sometimes." If it's a hoax it's a pretty elaborate one. "I'm sorry I'm stuck too, but I can't feel sorry for myself. Gotta keep going and if this is where I end up staying, I just have to get used to it. Dad..well, Kurt, he was surprised like you'd expect but he seems good with it." She looks back with a little sniff. "It's Simone I'm wondering about more. She's not my mother, and I don't know if Kurt will ever meet my real mom here. I decided not to tell them who she is. I want to try to find her first." A slow nod as he lazily plucks out some codes, attention more on you than the instrument. Lips thin as you speak of Simone and your mother, for Jonothon thinks that's a difficult thing to deal with. << I think it'd be better if you don't tell, even if that hurts. >> Can totally see how this whole situation would tear at your heart, and he is sympathetic. << Especially since meddling could make it even worse. Really, so long as you are here, doesn't that kind of already mean things work out in the end? >> If you believe TV shows anyway. "If this is even the same reality, and I'm not sure it is," TJ reminds, listening absently to the sounds as they're made. "But that's kinda what I'm feeling. If he wasn't seeing someone I'd probably tell him, but I don't want it getting in the way of whatever they've got here. I just have to see if I can find my mom, just to know what she's like. She'd be younger too, like him." None of it's easy and it sounds in her voice, which hints at being stressed out. Jonothon tilts his head at you, mindful of the stress. << There anything I can do to help? >> Since he doesn't know the full details, he can't suggest anything. Then again, Jono isn't asking for the full details. Such things require trust, and he's only met you. << Obviously I either don't exist where you came from, or have been gone so long there's not even mention of me. >> He grins a bit for that. << Hopefully I can't bollocks up your history. >> Nocturne shakes her head. "Just try to see me as anyone else, I guess. I don't remember ever meeting you where I'm from, but you'd have been older there anyway." If he lived that long, which she doesn't say. "I don't get the feeling anyone here is going to mess anything up. If that was going to happen I'd have probably already faded away or something." She chews at her lower lip at the thought. << You spend a lot of time worrying about that, don't you? >> The disappearing part. << Really, gel, if you're here at all, I kind of doubt you can bollocks it that badly by merely living the best you can. Sorry to make you stress over it. >> Jonothon doesn't really mean to do that. << You joining the big team then? >> The one that's suppose to be a secret, yet apparently isn't. << That'll be three blue and furry people. At this rate I'd be more considered at exploding on account of too much sheer awesome in one concentrated location. >> "I know. I don't think it works like that, so I'm just gonna go on believing I'm here until otherwise," TJ decides with a nod, then she hops off the railing to pace. "It doesn't look like I'll be on that team at this point. The Professor was talking to that Pete Wisdom guy and I think I'm going to be helping him out with the thing he needs help with." He continues playing as you pace, lounging there, watching. The teen's hair continues to ruffle absently, but that's really just stray power effects. << Heh. >> As you speak of Wisdom. << That's where I'll be heading once I'm done with this year. >> Back home to England and to help Wisdom. Jonothon seems rather calm about it though. << I'm too new at powers to help right now, but Wisdom asked me to join once things were settled. A change like that could be good for you. Somewhere new? >> That doesn't trigger all those painful memories. "Something like that, but I was hoping to stick around here longer. I can always come back sometime, right?" TJ speculates, adding, "Assuming there's no way to send me back home. But it sounded like the thing he needs to do are for good reasons and I've got the experience to help. That and, well, I don't have any real history here, if you know what I mean." That's how she's choosing to take it, anyway. The motion of the hair isn't something she's specifically picked up on yet. "I've never been to England," she adds. Considering all the people with powers you've known in your life, even if you did notice it's likely nothing to concern yourself with. Like showing shock that Piotr becomes metal, or some such. Jonothon isn't even aware of his hair, for it does this quite often these days. << Don't see why you can't. >> Come back here he means. << I'm afraid I'm a little biased when it comes to England. >> A grin for that. << Only came here because the Professor was the only one who could help me. He's been doing a lot, but I don't want to live here from now on. Can't imagine getting offered a spot on the big team either. >> Nocturne nods a few times. "I was born in this state. Where I'm from, I mean. We traveled but never to London. Both my parents were from Europe, though." She just says it, not thinking about it. "And the Professor's good at helping people. I just have to get used to stuff and if I can't get back home I'll have to make my new life here somewhere. I could've ended up in worse places." Jonothon doesn't think anything of the mention of your parents both being from Europe. There's a lot of people in Europe, and that doesn't narrow it down much. << Have to agree there. Lots of worse places to end up. >> Other, darker teams, and what not. << Also glad you were brought in here. Being homeless isn't a walk in the park. Especially not when you are a mutant. >> For all his own mutation makes being homeless nearly effortless. Doesn't go into that. << If you're going to help Wisdom, you'll get to see England and decide for yourself if you want to live here. Like you said, it's not like you can't return if you don't enjoy it. >> There are also probably zombie worlds and realities where everyone's monkeys and stuff. Could've been /much/ worse. TJ nods a few times and stops her pacing, coming to lean against the building's exterior. "When I saw what year it was the first thing I did was look up Xavier's. That was the only place I could think of to go, so I'm glad it was here too and mostly the same. I'm kind of excited about England too, in a way. I like seeing new places. I know I'd be going there for a reason, though." He nods about coming here. If he were in the same boat, he'd go home too. << I'm glad Xavier believed you. >> Even if Jonothon is still somewhat dubious. It's a lot to swallow, but he's giving you the benefit of the doubt. Didn't believe ghosts were real either, and now he's encountered two. << I'm a little biased about London. >> Admitted with no shame. A pause as he plays the guitar and thinks a moment, << You aren't going to look up your mother, are you? >> Since you already found your father. Nocturne glances back toward Jono when he mentions Xavier believing her, but says nothing. Instead she moves over to the railing again to rest her hands against it, looking out over the grounds at this and that. "I think most of us like the places we're used to," she supposes, turning an ear toward the guitar's sounds again. "I'm going to try," she verifies. "It's been a little harder, though. Your internet search engines aren't as good as the ones I'm used to." Silent for a brief time as the teen thinks and plays. Not his place to tell you one way or another what to do. << Could be as simple as that you don't know where or how to search, instead of the engines being bad. Not that I disbelieve that part. >> Future ones are obviously going to be better. << It's probably as simple as you aren't looking for the right thing. If people are as young as you claim. You did come back in time after all, they aren't what you know, and I doubt they told you everything. >> He shrugs, for people do forget. Some details just aren't relevant to tell your children. Nocturne frowns at nothing in particular, then she nods slowly. "You might be right. I could be looking up things that haven't even happened. She might even be about my age here," she decides, adding, "That could make it harder. She might have been in the.." Head tilts the other way. "Hmmm." She's thinking! << Heh. >> Finally thinking, huh. Jonothon isn't this is a good idea, but he keeps that to himself. << Know her maiden name? Where she was born, or grew up? Check those places. Looking for who she was after you were born isn't going to get you far. >> Doesn't ask where your mother might have been, for he honestly doesn't want to know. Hopefully she even exists here. That's another possibility he doesn't mention. << Good luck with that, gel. >> Another brief nod and TJ looks toward the back door. She might just go do this right now. "Yeah...yeah. That'd probably work. If she's around the age I'm thinking of she might have been at a certain place, but I don't know if I could find anything on them online. I might have to find someone to ask." The wheels are spinning now. She has a direction. Jonothon smiles faintly as your attention is shifting. << Go on. Look. >> He's amused, and not a bit bothered by this. If he were in your shoes, he'd do exactly the same thing. Finding out family and friends would be important. << I'll be around if you need me. >> Not that he expects she will. Seems a capable woman. Showing her impulsive nature, TJ nearly bounds over to plant a quick kiss on Jono's cheek unless he really tries to avoid it. "Thanks! Maybe I'll let you know what I find out!" And she's off, back inside to see just what her research turns up this time around. No avoiding it, but you very much surprise the teen. He blinks, fire lighting eyes, but you are dashing inside. After a moment he shakes his head, flame returning to dark brown. What a night. Jonothon mulls the conversation as he plays his guitar, watching the last of the sunset.